In modern painting installations for painting motor vehicle bodywork components, the motor vehicle bodywork components are conveyed by a conveyor through the painting installation and are then painted by one or more multi-axis painting robot(s) with atomiser(s) (e.g. rotary atomisers). In “six-axis tracking operation” (in the future, there may also be 7 axes present, but without the typical travel axis in the X-direction), a painting robot arranged to be locally fixed and having six movable axes is used, specifically with a rotatable robot axis, two pivotable robot arms and a robot hand axis with three movable axes. Herein, the surface of the motor vehicle bodywork component is subdivided into painting modules which are painted one after the other by the painting robot, wherein the painting modules are arranged one behind the other along the conveying direction of the conveyor. For example, one painting module can cover the front half of a motor vehicle door, whilst another painting module covers the rear half of the motor vehicle door. The painting robot begins by painting a painting module only when the conveyor has positioned the motor vehicle bodywork component relative to the painting robot such that the relevant painting module can be completely painted even in the case of a theoretically possible standstill of the conveyor. This means that the painting of a painting module is begun only when the relevant painting module lies entirely within the reach of the painting module. The length of the individual painting modules along the conveying direction is kept as short as possible in order not to have unnecessarily long waiting times before the painting of a painting module.
For this reason, conventionally, the individual painting modules are painted in the manner shown schematically in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIGS. 1 and 2 therefore show a portion of a side view of a motor vehicle bodywork component in the region of a motor vehicle door 1. During operation, the motor vehicle bodywork component is conveyed by a conventional conveyor (not shown) in a conveying direction through the painting installation, wherein the conveying direction is represented by an arrow 2.
The side surface of the motor vehicle door 1 is herein divided below the window into two painting modules 3, 4 (other subdivisions into painting modules are also possible, for example, given a larger surface than a door), which lie behind one another in the conveying direction and directly adjoin one another. Only when the motor vehicle bodywork component is transported through the painting installation by the conveyor, does the painting module 3 come within the range of the painting robot.
The painting robot then begins painting the painting module 3 in that the painting robot moves the rotary atomiser along a painting path 5 over the painting module 3, the painting path 5 beginning at a start point 6 and leading via a plurality of turning points 7, 8 and vertical path sections 9 to an end point 10.
The painting module 4 is then painted in the same way, wherein the painting robot guides the rotary atomiser along a painting path 11 starting from a start point 12, via a plurality of turning points 13, 14 and vertically extending path sections 15 to an end point 16.
In modern motor vehicle bodywork components, for aesthetic reasons, “character edges” 17 which extend substantially in the horizontal direction are often provided at the side flank of the motor vehicle bodywork. A problem arising during painting of motor vehicle bodywork components with such a character edge 17 is the fact that the vertical path sections 9, 15 always cross the character edge 17 substantially at right angles, which leads to an unsatisfactory painting result.